Daytona Beach Campus - College of Aviation

Aeronautical Science Department

Current News

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New High-Altitude Normobaric Training Lab


Embry Riddle is once again taking the lead to become the first university to use a normobaric laboratory enclosure to conduct high altitude hypoxia awareness training for aviation purposes.The creation and acquisition of a normobaric hypoxia training lab is designed to support the universites AS 357 Flight Physiology course which teaches the causes and symptoms of hypoxia.Altitude hypoxia is an insidious threat to pilots resulting in the lack of oxygen in the body caused by high altitudes or loss of cabin pressurization.Hypoxia has caused several recent aircraft accidents such as the Greek Helios Airways Boeing 737 crash with 121 fatalities and the Learjet 35 that killed golfer Payne Stewart.

Military aircrews receive academic and hypobaric chamber training in the recognition and recovery from hypoxia as part of their flight training.Civilian aviation and airline training however only requires a knowledge of high altitude operations, but does not require a pilot to ever experience their symptoms of hypoxia or the recovery effectiveness of 100% oxygen. It's like training a pilot to fly but never demonstrating a stall to them.Would they really be able to recognize and recover from one if it happened?


We recognize the need to provide first-rate realistic high altitude training and knowledge essential for pilots who will fly high performance aircraft in the high altitude airway structure.

General aviation and civilian airline pilots have few opportunities to actually experience hypoxia and be able to recognize degradation in their performance in time to don oxygen masks and prevent incapacitation.

Embry Riddle has partnered with Colorado Altitude Training (CAT), a company providing high altitude products to the FAA and other universities, to develop a 10-person unit that would use air machines to extract oxygen from the air in an enclosure creating a low oxygen environment.Students performing cognitive or motor tasks, or at computer consoles performing flight tasks would experience symptoms and warning signs of hypoxia and correct by donning airline-style oxygen masks like the ones required in cockpits.


Embry-Riddle is developing UAS curriculae to suit current industry needs


The Aeronautical Science Department is committed to meeting the needs of the aviation industry.  A new and upcoming field in aviation is the Unmanned Aircraft System, or UAS.  The UAS has proven its value over the last ten years in various military conflicts around the world.  The technology used in the military UAS is easily adaptable to civilian applications. In the upcoming years, the aviation industry will be needing thousands of pilots and sensor operators to fill this need.
Currently, there are many UAS operations being conducted in the United States.  Some of the more notable ones include the use of the Global Hawk to assist firefights, particularly in the wildfires that have occurred in California.


Smaller UAS, such as the Aerosonde, have been employed effectively by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in tropical storm and hurricane research.  The Aerosonde can fly much lower than a manned aircraft in these storms, and collect data that assists the forecaster in predicting both the strength and forecast movement.

(Aerosonde Photo)
The Aeronautical Science Department is currently developing a new minor in UAS.  The goals of the minor will be to:
* Familiarize the student with various UAS for civilian and military applications
* Teach the student the restrictions and regulation appropriate to UAS operations in the national airspace system
* Select and establish a system for a given civilian UAS need
* Familiarize the student with operational maintenance requirements for a UAS

This minor will be comprised of the following new courses:
* An overview of unmanned aircraft systems
* The operational and business aspects of unmanned aircraft
* Unmanned aircraft systems operations and mission planning
* Basic aviation robotics
* Unmanned sensing systems

Initial courses will be available in the spring 2010 semester; and we plan to have them all available no later than the fall 2010 semester.

For more details, contact Professor Ted Beneigh.  Beneight@erau.edu

  Manufacturer's Gallery Image of the Aerosonde


AEROSIM Technologies

The Aeronautical Science Department has incorporated an advanced Virtual Flight Deck computer-based training program, produced by AEROSIM Technologies, into the curriculum. This program allows airline-type training devices to be utilized while delivering several academic courses: Flight Technique Analysis, Advanced Avionics, Jet Transport Systems and International Flight Operations. This advanced approach to academics helps prepare the students for a lifetime of aviation experiences by applying the most recent technologies in their initial and advanced aeronautical courseware.

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